Opinion: Travis Etienne is the best RB prospect since Barkley

[alex33]

prospect wise bijan robinson might be the best rb prospect since Barkley, he is already being compared to him

[henry1jg]

Then you definitely don’t want to watch David Wilson’s tape and see how similar he and Etienne were in college.

My muse, my flame. RIP David Wilson. Your unrealized potential haunts my FF dreams. Lol

Just read this entire thread w my morning coffee. Whata ride it was. I don't have any shares yet, but I hope to have one. His production was unreal, and I love him being paired w Trevor. As a real life Jags fan, I was disappointed in picking an RB in round 1, but as time has passed since the draft, this pick is growing on me. Love the production, great size/speed, & the draft capital is there to make him hyper intriguing in what I see as a very weak RB class overall

[Anteaters]

He had 1600+ rushing yards as a sophomore in the ACC, 2000+ scrimmage yards as a junior.

He caught 50+ balls as a senior which rarely happens at the college level for a RB.

He ran a 4.45 at 215 pounds with first round capital, people really are overthinking this lol

Agreed!

If Etienne isn't at least the 2nd best fantasy rookie RB prospect this summer, I need a new hobby cause I'm terrible at evaluating fantasy football talent.

[Ice]

Then you definitely don’t want to watch David Wilson’s tape and see how similar he and Etienne were in college.

My muse, my flame. RIP David Wilson. Your unrealized potential haunts my FF dreams. Lol

Just read this entire thread w my morning coffee. Whata ride it was. I don't have any shares yet, but I hope to have one. His production was unreal, and I love him being paired w Trevor. As a real life Jags fan, I was disappointed in picking an RB in round 1, but as time has passed since the draft, this pick is growing on me. Love the production, great size/speed, & the draft capital is there to make him hyper intriguing in what I see as a very weak RB class overall

[Bronco Billy]

He had 1600+ rushing yards as a sophomore in the ACC, 2000+ scrimmage yards as a junior.

He caught 50+ balls as a senior which rarely happens at the college level for a RB.

He ran a 4.45 at 215 pounds with first round capital, people really are overthinking this lol

Agreed!

If Etienne isn't at least the 2nd best fantasy rookie RB prospect this summer, I need a new hobby cause I'm terrible at evaluating fantasy football talent.

Here you go:

https://youtu.be/fyeL5W71cIU

[killer_of_giants]

i think etienne is good, maybe great, and his running between the tackles isn't bad.

that said, yards after contact and forced missed tackles seem pretty useless stats to brandish as proof:

top 5 running backs in 2018 for yards after contact per attempt:
darrell henderson
darwin thompson
devine ozigbo
darrin hall
elijah holyfield

thankfully, elijah holyfield is there so you don't have the doubt that the stat only accounted for players whose first name begins with d.


here is a list of the running backs with most forced missed tackles covering a few seasons.

it isn't as bad as the previous one, you have barkley, cook, hunt... ryan nall...


so yeah, pardon me if i completely disregard both of those stats as a predictor of nfl success.

(these were not cherry-picked, just the first things i could find with a quick search, if anyone has full data on either, please do share!)

[Anteaters]

He had 1600+ rushing yards as a sophomore in the ACC, 2000+ scrimmage yards as a junior.

He caught 50+ balls as a senior which rarely happens at the college level for a RB.

He ran a 4.45 at 215 pounds with first round capital, people really are overthinking this lol

Agreed!

If Etienne isn't at least the 2nd best fantasy rookie RB prospect this summer, I need a new hobby cause I'm terrible at evaluating fantasy football talent.

Here you go:

https://youtu.be/fyeL5W71cIU

That had me laughing and feeling embarrassed at the same time. At first I was thinking "Hey, too bad there's not fantasy leagues like that for real!"
I need help.

[tresskid84]

There’s an argument to be hard about his short term upside

[DLF3000]

He had 1600+ rushing yards as a sophomore in the ACC, 2000+ scrimmage yards as a junior.

He caught 50+ balls as a senior which rarely happens at the college level for a RB.

He ran a 4.45 at 215 pounds with first round capital, people really are overthinking this lol

Agreed!

If Etienne isn't at least the 2nd best fantasy rookie RB prospect this summer, I need a new hobby cause I'm terrible at evaluating fantasy football talent.

Here you go:

https://youtu.be/fyeL5W71cIU

I want the last ~90 seconds of my life back.

[OhCruelestRanter]

You know, the more I think about it, Kyle Pitts (who I think will be great) was also a bad pick at 4. Think about it. Atlanta is transparently moving toward a rebuild if they’re trading away Julio Jones, and they passed on Justin Fields and Mac Jones for a TE?

I think it’s interesting that it seems like nobody is making this point, while we were all quick to kill Jacksonville for their bad pick. (For the record I think Etienne at 25 was a worse pick in the sense that it’s more difficult to defend, but Pitts at 4 is more consequential. Jacksonville didn’t pass on a QB to take Etienne.)

I think it’s pretty clear why- Pitts at 4 didn’t ruin anybody’s dynasty stock, so nobody cares. While Etienne at 25 was a bad pick, it’s clear that the reason we’re hearing about it so much is because it leveled Robinson’s dynasty value.

[StripesOfKC]

You know, the more I think about it, Kyle Pitts (who I think will be great) was also a bad pick at 4. Think about it. Atlanta is transparently moving toward a rebuild if they’re trading away Julio Jones, and they passed on Justin Fields and Mac Jones for a TE?

I think it’s interesting that it seems like nobody is making this point, while we were all quick to kill Jacksonville for their bad pick. (For the record I think Etienne at 25 was a worse pick in the sense that it’s more difficult to defend, but Pitts at 4 is more consequential. Jacksonville didn’t pass on a QB to take Etienne.)

I think it’s pretty clear why- Pitts at 4 didn’t ruin anybody’s dynasty stock, so nobody cares. While Etienne at 25 was a bad pick, it’s clear that the reason we’re hearing about it so much is because it leveled Robinson’s dynasty value.

I agree this shows lack of a clear vision for the Falcons...but maybe they just didn't like Fields as a franchise QB?

The smoke and buzz was that they were set to take Lance at 4 and liked him a lot--just got jumped

[Pullo Vision]

You know, the more I think about it, Kyle Pitts (who I think will be great) was also a bad pick at 4. Think about it. Atlanta is transparently moving toward a rebuild if they’re trading away Julio Jones, and they passed on Justin Fields and Mac Jones for a TE?

I think it’s interesting that it seems like nobody is making this point, while we were all quick to kill Jacksonville for their bad pick. (For the record I think Etienne at 25 was a worse pick in the sense that it’s more difficult to defend, but Pitts at 4 is more consequential. Jacksonville didn’t pass on a QB to take Etienne.)

I think it’s pretty clear why- Pitts at 4 didn’t ruin anybody’s dynasty stock, so nobody cares. While Etienne at 25 was a bad pick, it’s clear that the reason we’re hearing about it so much is because it leveled Robinson’s dynasty value.

On the last paragraph, Pitts was anticipated as being a pick for Atlanta well in advance of the draft. People had time to accept that. Jacksonville had a ton of needs and picks and "wasting" one of their best assets on a non-prime position was a shock to the football talking head "community".

And the football talking heads are always right.

To the other point, I was curious how they would approach the roster, which is at a bit of a crossroads. As they filled in the coaching staff (guys like Terry Robiskie had previous experience with players), I figured Ryan would be retained. And then, he restructured his contract, making it harder for the team to part with him and clear his cap hit. That was before the draft, and pretty much locked them into not going QB.

[Kurt G.O.A.T.]

If he was there the Jags were taking Toney. So they have a pretty clear vision of what they want to do. Not sure how it's wasting their pick if they had a plan on what kind of player they wanted to fit the offense.

[Jigga94]

If he was there the Jags were taking Toney. So they have a pretty clear vision of what they want to do. Not sure how it's wasting their pick if they had a plan on what kind of player they wanted to fit the offense.

Because there are owners that are very dug in on James Robinson

[Bronco Billy]

If he was there the Jags were taking Toney. So they have a pretty clear vision of what they want to do. Not sure how it's wasting their pick if they had a plan on what kind of player they wanted to fit the offense.

Because there are owners that are very dug in on James Robinson

I’m pretty sure that’s inaccurate. I see it as some not understanding what kind of offense Meyer has had great success in running in the past, and as Etienne supporters who believe the RB position is binary - that the position can only be manned by Etienne or Robinson and that because of draft capital that makes Robinson the odd man out. The Robinson owners that I have seen posting for the most part seem to understand that there can be room for 2 RBs in an offense.